1 A Frog's Life

A Frog's Life written by Pam Holden

amphibian Frogs are very unusual animals. They can move in many ways, such as jumping, hopping, swimming and diving. They make an unusual sound: croak-croak or ribbit-ribbit. Frogs are amphibians, as they can live on land or in water. They have webbed feet for swimming. Their big round eyes stick out on the top of their heads so that they can see all the way around. Most frogs are green or brown with markings that help them hide from their enemies.

Frogs also have an unusual life cycle. In springtime, they lay thousands of eggs that float in ponds or streams. But these eggs, called spawn, don't hatch into baby frogs. Instead they hatch into quite different little animals called tadpoles, which have round, black bodies and long tails. A tadpole has a mouth, but no legs. spawn

tadpoles Tadpoles live in water and breathe through gills like fish. For the first ten days, they hang onto plants. Then they start to swim around finding plants for food. After four to six weeks, their gills begin to disappear, but they can still breathe underwater. They grow tiny teeth, and their tails get shorter.

When the tadpoles are six to nine weeks old, they develop back legs with webbed feet. Their bodies become longer as their tails get shorter still. They begin to breathe air, by coming to the top of the water.

After nine weeks, the tadpoles develop short front legs. They begin to change to green or brown. They look more like frogs, with head shapes showing. Their eyes are bigger, but they still have tails.